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Jerry Domian
and decision, will share an award of one
million dollars.
HHMI investigator Bonnie L. Bassler of
Princeton University and HHMI vice president
and chief scientific officer Jack E.
Dixon have been elected as foreign members
of the Royal Society. Fellows and foreign
members gain membership in the society for
contributions to fundamental research and
for leading scientific and technological progress
in industry and research establishments.
HHMI investigator JoANNe cHory of the
Salk Institute for Biological Studies was
awarded the 2012 Genetics Society of America
Medal for outstanding contributions to
genetics for the last 15 years. Chory studies the
mechanisms plants use to alter their growth
in response to changes in the environment.
The American Phytopathological Society
presented Jeffery L. Dangl, an HHMI-
GBMF investigator at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, with the 2012 Ruth
Allen Award. Dangl was honored for his
research on the molecular mechanisms
underlying the plant immune system’s ability
to discriminate between friend and foe.
Karl Deisseroth, an HHMI early career
scientist at Stanford University, was awarded the
University of North Carolina’s 12th Perl-UNC
Neuroscience Prize. Deisseroth shares the prize
with Edward Boyden and Feng Zhang of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology for their
development and application of optogenetics
to study neural circuit function. Deisseroth
also received the 2012 Klaus Joachim Zülch
Neuroscience Prize from the Gertrud
Reemtsma Foundation in Germany and the
2012 Rush and Helen Record Neuroscience
Award from the Baylor College of Medicine.
The Educational Resources Group
in the HHMI science education department
recently won two Telly Awards for the short
film The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection
and Adaptation. The awards are given to
film and video productions, both broadcast
and online.
StePHen J. eLLedge, an HHMI investigator
at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has
spotlight
Horwich Awarded Shaw Prize
arthur horwich
won the American-Italian Cancer Foundation’s
2012 Prize for Scientific Excellence in
Medicine. Elledge studies the regulation of
the cell cycle and is also interested in the
development of genetic technologies to aid
in gene and drug discovery.
The National Hemophilia Foundation presented
Katherine A. High, an HHMI
investigator at the Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia, with its Leadership in Research
Award. High studies the molecular basis of
blood coagulation and the development of
novel therapeutics for the treatment of bleeding
disorders.
HHMI investigator Helen H. Hobbs of the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center received the International Atherosclerosis
Society’s inaugural Antonio M.
Gotto Jr. Prize in Atherosclerosis Research.
Hobbs’ research focuses on defining genetic
factors that contribute to variations in the
levels of cholesterol in the blood.
The Gruber Foundation presented HHMI
investigators Lily Y. Jan and Yuh Nung
Jan, both of the University of California, San
Francisco, with its 2012 Neuroscience Prize.
The scientists were recognized for their work
on how potassium channels control brain
activity and how brain cells diversify and specialize
during embryonic development.
Eric R. Kandel, an HHMI investigator at
the Columbia University College of Physicians
and Surgeons, received the American
Psychiatric Association’s 2012 Adolf Meyer
Award. Kandel studies the basic molecular
Arthur Horwich, an HHMI investigator at the Yale
School of Medicine, received the 2012 Shaw Prize in
Life Science and Medicine. He shares the $1 million
award with Franz-Ulrich Hartl of the Max Planck
Institute of Biochemistry for their contributions to
understanding the molecular mechanism of protein
folding. Horwich and Hartl determined that
the protein chaperonin acts as a cage-like folding
“machine” that provides a safe place for proteins to
fold, away from outside interference.
mechanisms underlying learning and memory
in animals.
HHMI investigator William G. Kaelin Jr.
of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a
recipient of the 2012 Lefoulon-Delalande
Foundation’s Scientific Grand Prize. He
shares the prize with Peter J. Ratcliffe of the
University of Oxford and Gregg L. Semenza of
the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
for research on how tissues and organs
sense and adapt to changing oxygen levels.
Jeremy Nathans, an HHMI investigator at
the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,
is the recipient of the 2012 Albert C.
Muse Prize, given by the Eye and Ear Foundation
of Pittsburgh. Nathans uses molecular
genetic approaches to study the development
of the mammalian retina and embryo.
HHMI investigator Charles L. Sawyers
of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center was elected president of the American
Association for Cancer Research. In this
role, Sawyers will work with the AACR membership
and board of directors to further the
association’s mission to accelerate progress in
the prevention and cure of cancer.
The 11th annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical
Sciences was awarded to Ronald D. Vale,
an HHMI investigator at the University of
California, San Francisco. Vale shares the
prize with Michael Sheetz at Columbia University
and James Spudich at Stanford
University for explaining how cargo is moved
by molecular motors inside cells.
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